History Film / SoylentGreen

** Notably, the situation has gotten so bad that ''this is the only kind of luxury available, even to the super-rich''. The beef that Thorn steals is "beef like you've never seen before" according to the grocer, a rare treat even for someone like Simonson, who is otherwise shown nibbling on a wafer of soylent green like anyone else. Governor Santini and his family go on a family outing to a "park" with a single tree and some grass.

** Notably, the situation has gotten so bad that ''this is the only kind of luxury available, even to the super-rich''. The beef that Thorn steals is "beef like you've never seen before" according to the grocer, a rare treat even for someone like Simonson, who is shown nibbling on a wafer of soylent green like anyone else. Governor Santini and his family go on a family outing to a "park" with a single tree and some grass.

* AlterKocker: Sol Roth, a grumpy but charming N.Y. Jew who's seen better days.

* TheBigRottenApple: The worst aspects of 1970s New York multiplied by 100 (at least).

* UsedFuture: Everything has a battered, lived-in, tumbling-down aesthetic. Creator/RogerEbert positively noted this aspect in his 1973 review: "''Soylent Green''[=s=] real achievement is to create a 21st Century world that's convincing as reality; we somehow don't feel we're in a s-f picture. What director Fleischer and his technicians have done is to assume a very basic (and depressing) probability: that by the year 2022, New York will look essentially as it does now, only 49 years older and more run-down."

* UsedFuture: Everything has a battered, lived-in, tumbling-down aesthetic.

* SoylentSoy: Unlike Soylent Green, Soylent Red and Yellow appear to be made from soybeans and lentils.

->''"SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!"''

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: "What is the secret of Soylent Green?" [[EpicFail just as they're showing body bags on a conveyor belt]]. It also spoils [[spoiler: Roth's Death]].

* DownerBeginning: This is a dystopian movie, after all.

* ClimateChange: Greenhouse gases are mentioned to have played a role in the extinction of much of the earth's plant and animals.

''Soylent Green'' is a 1973 [[{{Dystopia}} dystopian]] {{science fiction}} film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Creator/CharltonHeston, loosely based on Creator/HarryHarrison's 1966 novel ''Literature/MakeRoomMakeRoom''.

** The same assassin later tries to shoot Thorn during a street riot. RealityEnsues when he finds it difficult to hit his target while being jostled by rioters and he ends up being killed by accident just when he's got a clear shot.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: PlayedForDrama. The harsh values of the world of 2022, from the tolerance of euthanasia, to police being allowed to steal food from murder victims, to women being kept as live in prostitutes, are a sign of how desperate and hopeless society has become.

* KleptomaniacHero: The first thing Thorn does after entering somebody's home is steal anything edible, as the police are starving too.

%%* {{Dystopia}}

%%* YouHaveToBelieveMe:

%%* YouHaveToBelieveMe

* ApologeticAttacker: The assassin sent to kill William Simonson relays an [[NothingPersonal apologetic message]] from the men who hired him (implied to be fellow board members of the Soylent Corporation). The assassin himself has no idea what the message means and is [[PunchClockVillain just doing what he's been told]].

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The film was made in 1973 and is set in 2022. Thorn looks to be in his forties and has no memories of when there was green vegetation or proper food. Apparently, the filmmakers expected their dystopia to materialize in less than ten years after the movie's release. This would be in keeping with other then-current predictions. For instance global overpopulation was going to cause starvation on a massive scale in the ''1970s'', oil and other vital resources run out in the 1980s and early 1990s, etc. The [[Literature/MakeRoomMakeRoom book]] is just as bad. The world population in the book? Seven billion. One would think that the 35,000,000 people living in New York City would spread out. Not to mention that the ''current'' world population is estimated at 7.4 billion, and the US still has such a food surplus that it's routinely thrown out to make room for fresher ingredients. Much of the "overpopulation" fears of both the book and movie were already being quelled at the time by the massive agricultural progress of the Green Revolution, which was vastly improving food production. However, the average person was not yet aware of these new technologies and processes, much less how immensely effective they would prove to be.

[[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture The year is 2022]]. Overpopulation has brought [[GaiasLament environmental]] and [[FallenStatesOfAmerica economic collapse.]] In [[BigApplesauce New York City]], pop. ''40,000,000'' (its current population is about 8 million, not much higher than in 1970), police detective Frank Thorn (Heston) is investigating the burglary-turned-murder of wealthy businessman William Simonson (Creator/JosephCotten), a board member of the food rations manufacturer [[PeaceAndLoveIncorporated Soylent Corporation]]. Based on the fact that there was [[KleptomaniacHero valuable food and books left for him to steal]], and that his bodyguard Fielding (Creator/ChuckConnors) and [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold 'furniture']] Shirl (Leigh Taylor-Young) were conveniently away at the time, Thorn believes it to be an assassination. He gives Simonson's oceanographic survey (which he himself stole) to his elderly roommate Sol Roth (Creator/EdwardGRobinson), a book collector who remembers the good old days, and they have a memorable scene cooking up the food he also stole from the late Mr. Simonson.

[[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture The year is 2022]]. Overpopulation has brought [[GaiasLament environmental]] and [[FallenStatesOfAmerica economic collapse.]] In [[BigApplesauce New York City]], pop. ''40,000,000'' (its current population is about 8 million, not much higher than in 1970), police detective Frank Thorn (Heston) is investigating the burglary-turned-murder of wealthy businessman William Simonson (Creator/JosephCotten), a board member of the food rations manufacturer [[PeaceAndLoveIncorporated Soylent Corporation]]. Based on the fact that there was [[KleptomaniacHero valuable food and books left for him to steal]], and that his bodyguard Fielding (Creator/ChuckConnors) and [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold 'furniture']] Shirl (Leigh Taylor-Young) were conveniently away at the time, Thorn believes it to be an assassination. He gives Simonson's oceanographic survey (which he himself stole) to his elderly roommate Sol Roth (Creator/EdwardGRobinson), a book collector who remembers [[TheBeforeTimes the good old days]], and they have a memorable scene cooking up the food he also stole from the late Mr. Simonson.

[[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture The year is 2022]]. Overpopulation has brought [[GaiasLament environmental]] and [[FallenStatesOfAmerica economic collapse.]] In [[BigApplesauce New York City]], pop. ''40,000,000'' (its current population is about 8 million, not much higher than in 1970), police detective Frank Thorn (Heston) is investigating the burglary-turned-murder of wealthy businessman William Simonson (Creator/JosephCotten), a board member of the food rations manufacturer [[PeaceAndLoveIncorporated Soylent Corporation]]. Based on the fact that there was [[KleptomaniacHero valuable food and books left for him to steal]], and that his bodyguard Fielding (Creator/ChuckConnors) and [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold 'furniture']] Shirl (Leigh Taylor-Young) were conveniently away at the time, Thorn believes it to be an assassination. He gives Simonson's oceanographic survey (which he himself stole) to his roommate Sol Roth (Creator/EdwardGRobinson), a book collector, and they have a memorable scene cooking up the food he also stole from the late Mr. Simonson.

In his investigation, he discovers that Fielding has more money than his job would provide, thus placing him under suspicion. Thorn is then called off the investigation and put on riot control duty, where an attempt is made on his life. He manages to get the assassin crushed under a people-scooping bulldozer.